Google Chrome last week unseated Apple Safari for the first time as the third most used internet browser in the United States, according to new figures.

"This is quite a coup for Google as they have gone from zero to almost 10 per cent of the US market in under two years," StatCounter chief executive Aodhan Cullen said.

Globally, Chrome remained in a solid third place with 9.44 per cent of the browser market and slowly closing the gaps with second-place Firefox, which had slightly more than 31 per cent, and IE with 52.78 per cent.

"There is a battle royal going on between Google and Apple in the internet browser space (Chrome vs. Safari) as well as in the mobile market (Android vs. iPhone)."

Chrome had 8.97 per cent of the US browser market in the week that ended Sunday, topping Safari's 8.88 per cent, StatCounter reported.

Safari lost an approximately 1.5 per cent lead it had on Chrome two months earlier.

Firefox remained the second most popular with 28.48 percent of people using the free, open-source browser. Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) reigned supreme with 52 percent of US Internet users surfing with the software.

What browser do I use the most and why? I think my basis of choice is the availability of third-party add-ons I trust and find useful. At the moment they're the Mozilla Firefox selection. I like to be able to filter both photo and flash adverts off my screen universally, and to add to the photo ban list with a simple right-click. I also have a right-click reverse search on web images which will show me where else they appear on the Internet, and convenient IP/DNS/WHOIS displays.

It's a close call between Firefox and Lynx as to which I use most though, I spend a lot of time in Lynx for speed of navigation and the uniform appearance it provides.

I mainly use Chrome and find it quite fast and hardly ever crashes and it updates itself unlike IE and can add apps also automatically logs me into my fav sites(like this forum). Also I use Opera which is quite good now with plenty of extras and quite fast.

Globally, Chrome remained in a solid third place with 9.44 per cent of the browser market and slowly closing the gaps with second-place Firefox, which had slightly more than 31 per cent, and IE with 52.78 per cent.